The final and possibly the most challenging phase of construction has begun on MTSU
Boulevard, which connects the interior of campus to Rutherford Boulevard.

The work will cause some changes in traffic and parking along the thoroughfare, said
Ron Malone, assistant vice president for events and transportation services.

Plans are to maintain one lane of traffic along the construction route, Malone said,
but vehicular travel between the Blue Raider Drive/MTSU Boulevard intersection and
the Rutherford Boulevard campus entrance/exit will be affected until the project is
completed this fall.

Workers have placed new fencing along both sides of the street between the roundabout
and the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building. A pathway north of the fencing now allows
pedestrian access from the parking lots to campus buildings located within the fenced
area.

Malone said all parking along the street, and even some parking in adjacent parking
lots, will be affected and will be temporarily relocated. Campus officials are recommending
that commuters park in perimeter lots, such as those along Rutherford Boulevard, and
ride the Raider Xpress shuttle bus into campus. Faculty and staff will find white-decal
parking available in the lot south of the Honors Building.

"MTSU will provide periodic updates concerning future road closures, and we appreciate
the cooperation from the campus and community as we continue to improve our campus
accessibility," Malone said.

For more information, contact the Office of Events and Transportation at 615-898-5002.

Because of the darkened room conditions, Director of Athletics Chris Massaro thought
President Sidney A. McPhee had moved the weekly President's Cabinet meeting to a location
near Orlando, Fla., instead of across campus.

"It was one of the most impressive things I have seen on a college campus," Massaro
said of the Department of Aerospace's unique Air Traffic Control Training and Research
Facility. "It was easy to see the practical applications of the lab and the value
it brings to a student interested in this field.

"When we first walked into the lab, I felt like I was entering something at Disney
World, but that feeling soon ended when the students began their demonstration. It
was very involved and very technical. We have some incredible students on our campus."

Fourteen other cabinet colleagues joined Massaro Feb. 14 as some of the first administrators
to tour the facility, which is located in Room S113 of the Business and Aerospace
Building.

In both classes and laboratory training, students are gaining practical experience
in the three-phase air traffic control simulators that resemble ATC facilities in
a variety of major airports, including Nashville, Memphis, Oklahoma City and Atlanta.

Upon entering the room, visitors first view the pseudopilot positions. They next
go into the tower lab, a seamless 360-degree fiberglass screen that rises to nine
feet with a diameter of 29 feet.

Ten high-definition digital projectors "create the most realistic tower simulator
available today," said Gail Zlotky, an associate professor of aerospace and coordinator
of MTSU's Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative.

Computer Science Corporation, which won the contract to provide the tower and radar
simulators to MTSU last summer, has delivered a simulated-tower environment for the
Memphis and Nashville air traffic systems, Zlotky said.

The third tour stop is the 10-suite radar lab, which "can simulate both en- route
and radar-approach control environments," she said. Each position contains a touch-screen
communication panel, digital radar display, flight-progress strip bay and more.

Josh Curtis, a senior aerospace major from Douglas, Ga., had high praise for the
facility.

"The new ATC simulators and training facility means more than any non-ATC student
can imagine," he said. "There is a huge difference between learning classroom material
and actually putting it into play in a simulated environment. While we had technology
to help put what we learn into practice, this new technology far surpasses what the
school used to have.

"Our new tower simulator really gives the feeling of what it's like to actually be
in a real-world tower and being able to see in every direction, as opposed to some
tower simulators that would only give you 180 degrees of visibility. Not only can
we see planes landing on the runways, but we can see the planes that are coming in
from behind us and put in perspective what we see on the radar screen.

"If it wasn't for MTSU's awesome ATC program and the new simulators, I wouldn't live
3 1/2 hours away from my wife," Curtis continued. "To know that I, along with my classmates,
am among the first participants in this new age of ATC training is something I will
be proud of all of my life."

Aerospace Chair Dr. Wayne Dornan told cabinet members that MTSU's facility is "the
only simulator of its type in the world" and can create "any kind of weather—-rain
or snow" for training.

"It is just one example of the many high-quality and unique academic programs available
at MTSU. I am proud of the aerospace faculty for working so hard to bring the facility
to our campus," said Dr. Warner Cribb, geosciences professor and president of the
MTSU Faculty Senate.

"The air traffic control simulator ... is an outstanding example of MTSU being out
in front with new technologies for use by our faculty and students," added Dr. Pat
Geho, director of the MTSU Small Business Development Center and an associate professor
of business communication and entrepreneurship.

CONTROLLING THE TRAFFIC—MTSU junior aerospace major Josh Anderson, seated, shows
MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee how to operate a terminal on Feb. 14 while members
of the President's Cabinet tour the new $3.4 million air traffic control simulator
lab in the Business and Aerospace Building. Administrators inspecting other equipment
are, from left, Kim Edgar, McPhee's executive assistant; Dr. Wayne Dornan, aerospace
chair; Joe Bales, vice president for development and university relations; John Cothern,
senior vice president; and Dr. Pat Geho, director of MTSU's Small Business Development
Center.

Recording-industry professor John Hill won a "Best Engineered Album, Classical" Grammy
for his audio-engineering work on the CD "Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony; Deus Ex
Machina," while alumnus Clarke Schleicher (B.S. "80) received his "Record of the Year"
Grammy as engineer/mixer on Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" single.

The same single nabbed MTSU history grad Josh Kear ('96) two more Grammys to add
to his collection: "Song of the Year" and "Best Country Song." Kear also won the 2007
"Best Country Song" Grammy for "Before He Cheats," a chart-topper for Carrie Underwood.

Hill and Schleicher also were nominated for second Grammys, Hill for "Best Classical
Album" for "Metropolis" and Schleicher for "Album of the Year" for the entire "Need
You Now" CD.

Hill's award-winning CD featured works by contemporary composer Michael Daugherty
as performed by Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

Hill has been the Nashville Symphony's recording engineer since 2000 and was nominated
for a "Best Classical Album" Grammy in 2007 for engineering the symphony's CD "Ravel:
"L'Enfant et les sortileges" ("the Child and the Spells") and "Sheherazade."

Schleicher designed and supervised the installation of three recording facilities
at Warner Bros. Records and manages the company's day-to-day operations of two studios
and an editing suite. His responsibilities include studio booking, billing, maintenance
and inventory.

He also runs his own company, L. Clarke Schleicher Engineerin in Nashville, as an
independent audio recording engineer.

Kear, who minored in recording-industry management, currently writes for Big Yellow
Dog Music in Nashville and has had songs recorded by Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffett,
Tim McGraw, Martina McBride and Gloriana. His "Need You Now" co-writers, the Lady
Antebellum trio, included Hillary Scott, also a former MTSU student.

An AFLAC representative will be on campus on Tuesday, March 1, from 9:30 a.m. to
1 p.m. in the Human Resource Services Conference Room in the Sam Ingram Building.
No appointments are necessary. AFLAC provides both cancer and intensive-care benefits.
For more information, contact AFLAC representative Jane Tucker at 931-703-5134 or
Tucker.jane1@gmail.com.

Giving back has always been part of Jim Gaines' DNA. The 1969 MTSU graduate with
a bachelor's degree in history recently reaffirmed not only his generosity but his
unwavering devotion to his alma mater by establishing the Jim Gaines Endowed Chair
in American History through his estate.

The gift ultimately will enable MTSU to recruit a renowned historian to the faculty.

"One thing that I would say to every MTSU graduate and to those who will be graduating
is to look back at your experience; you probably had one or more people who helped
you," Gaines says. "If you love (MTSU) like I do, think about giving back. I want
MTSU to be even greater after I'm gone. Whether you want to give regularly during
your lifetime or give something in your will, there is something each of us can do
to give back."

A former six-year board member of the MTSU Foundation, Gaines understands the importance
of private giving.

"The alumni from MTSU are going to have to reach into their pockets and start donating
more money," he says. "I have been told that the amount of state support has decreased
over the years. With greater financial support, we'll be able to hire the best professors
and build new facilities."

"Jim exemplifies what we wish all our alumni would aspire to—-someone who stays involved,
engaged and committed to the institution and really only wants what's best for us,"
adds Joe Bales, MTSU vice president for development and university relations.

"Even though he literally lives about as far away from campus as any alumnus, being
out in California, he does stay connected and in touch. Jim's goal is to see MTSU
better tomorrow than it is today, and he's willing to invest in that goal. We are
grateful for his tremendous generosity."

Gaines' responses to questions about himself dissolve into fond reflections of people
at MTSU whom he admired and who influenced him. His personal "professors' hall of
fame," he says, would include Drs. Richard Peck, Robert Corlew, Roscoe Strickland
Jr., Bart McCash and his favorite, William Windham. Dean Hayes, MTSU head track coach,
remains a good friend, he adds.

Now a resident of La Jolla, Calif., Gaines grew up in Kingsport, Tenn. As a youngster,
he learned how to work and save money by mowing lawns and later working at a church
retreat during the summer while attending and eventually graduating from Dobyns-Bennett
High School.

"My mom kept urging me to go to East Tennessee State," he recalls. "I said no; I
wanted to get away and be on my own. Then she suggested UT, and I said that it was
really too big for me. I had never been to Middle Tennessee State. So I took the bus
to freshman orientation and stayed at the old James K. Polk Hotel across the street
from the First Baptist Church. I walked the campus.

"There was a pay phone in front of the old library. I called my mom and said I was
going to Middle Tennessee. She asked why. I told her it was 4a beautiful campus, I
was impressed by the other students, and besides, there were some good-looking girls
here."

During his college years, Gaines worked in the school library and, during his junior
year, served as a residence-hall counselor. ("I think I'll write a book on that experience.")
He also worked in a men's clothing store in the College Heights area called The Caboose
"because it was in an actual caboose." Gaines also was instrumental in co-founding
MTSU's Beta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

"The men and women who were students with me at MTSU have all turned out to be really
good people," he notes. "If you were to ask me what I remember most about MTSU, it
was the transformation from Middle Tennessee State College to Middle Tennessee State
University. It was beginning to grow. It was transforming from a teachers' college
to students majoring in business and mass communication. "

Gaines was and is an avid reader. After graduating from MTSU, he immediately went
into the insurance business in management training with a large company—a business
he has been in ever since. He read about successful men and women, and he learned
early on that successful people stood on the shoulders of those who came before them.

In 1993, he established a scholarship at Dobyns-Bennett High School for a graduating
senior who planned to attend MTSU. The criteria for winning the scholarship was not
only achieving academic success but also being involved in school and community activities.

"There have been 17 or 18 scholarships so far, and it's really rewarding because
the recipients will send me letters," he says. "It doesn't matter what their economic
status is. I am convinced that in our world without a college education you're going
to have a difficult time. My mission is to get as many kids in high school into college."

Gaines also serves as a tutor in a program called Reality Changers in his church.
Originally established for Hispanic youth, it is open to anyone willing to sign an
attendance contract and maintain a 3.0 GPA.

"We tutor the kids for the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), and we have some kids
who come close to acing it," he points out. "Our best success story is a kid from
a gang in San Diego with a GPA of something like 0.0006. Three years later, when he
graduated from high school, he had a full academic ride to Dartmouth College."

In 2000, Gaines was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Following several chemotherapy
treatments and a bone-marrow transplant in 2001, he was out of commission for a year
and a half. Because he had no one to run his brokerage agency, he sold it, but rather
than retire, he looked around for another enterprise.

"I almost bought a vitamin company, but I didn't know anything about that business,"
Gaines says with a laugh. His original insurance agency, Insurance Designers of San
Diego, which he formed in the mid-1980s, sold in October 2001, right before he had
his bone-marrow transplant.

In 2003, he formed his second company, Jim Gaines Insurance and Financial Services.

"You've always heard that you should do what you're good at. So I started an Internet
insurance business from my home. People contact me by going on the Internet. I work
about four days a week. I love what I'm doing."

"I'm very sentimental. I tell people that if I had to do it over again, I would still
go to MTSU," he reflects.

The MTSU School of Journalism has received a $40,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation
to host a conference to help reporters across the South cover issues involving Islam
in their communities.

The conference, "Covering Islam in the Bible Belt," will bring journalists together
with experts and academics to help them better explain the controversial and complicated
issues that can arise during community conversations on the topic.

Tentatively scheduled to take place in Nashville in August, the two-day conference
will include a variety of session topics, including facts, statistics and misconceptions
about Islam; First Amendment issues vs. threats of terrorism; and the quality of media
coverage of Islamic issues in the South, such as the Murfreesboro mosque.

The Chicago-based McCormick Foundation funds up to eight such conferences, called
Specialized Reporting Institutes, each year, to provide journalists with subject-specific
training. The Poynter Institute administers the program.

The conference proposal was written and submitted by Philip Loubere, assistant professor
of visual communication, and Dr. Deborah Gump, the College of Media and Entertainment's
Professional in Residence, who also directs the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence
in First Amendment Studies. They were assisted by Dr. Sanjay Asthana, associate professor
of visual communication, and Dr. Dwight Brooks, director of the School of Journalism.

Grammy-winning, genre-bending musician Béla Fleck will play MTSU's Windham Lecture
Series in Liberal Arts into its second decade when the renowned banjoist serves as
guest speaker on Tuesday, March 15, in Tucker Theatre.

"A Conversation with Béla Fleck," which will mark the Windham Lectures' 20th year,
will begin at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the general public.

MTSU will whet audiences' appetites for Fleck's lecture on Monday, Feb. 28, when
the Student Programming Films Committee offers a free public showing of the documentary
on Fleck's pilgrimage to Africa to learn about the banjo's origins. "Throw Down Your
Heart" will be screened at 4 p.m. in the Keathley University Center Theater.

Fleck just received his 14th Grammy Award, the "Best Contemporary World Music Album"
for "Throw Down Your Heart, Africa Sessions Part 2: Unreleased Tracks."

Fleck began his career on the guitar, but he was struck by the bluegrass sounds of
Flatt & Scruggs, particularly Earl Scruggs' banjo style, while watching "The Beverly
Hillbillies" on TV. He began playing a banjo his grandfather bought him when he was
15 and, taught by artists as varied as Erik Darling, Marc Horowitz and Tony Trischka,
Fleck was soon playing in bands and made his first solo album, "Crossing the Tracks,"
at age 19. His second album, "Natural Bridge," teamed him with David Grisman, Mark
O'Connor, Ricky Skaggs, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall and other great players.

In 1981, Fleck was invited to join New Grass Revival, reuniting with an old pal,
mandolinist Sam Bush, and adding Pat Flynn on guitar and John Cowan on bass to chart
new territory with their blend of bluegrass, rock and country. During Fleck's nine
years with NGR, he continued to record solo albums for Rounder Records and collaborated
with Bush, O'Connor, Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer in an acoustic supergroup, Strength
in Numbers.

Toward the end of the New Grass years, Fleck met keyboardist and harmonica player
Howard Levy and connected with bassist Victor Wooten and his brother, percussionist
Roy "FutureMan" Wooten. That one-shot appearance on the PBS "Lonesome Pine Specials"
became the first performance of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, whose "blu-bop" jazz-bluegrass
synthesis has led to best-selling CDs, multiple Grammy nominations and international
tours. Levy left the Flecktones after three albums and was replaced by saxophonist
Jeff Coffman. The group will be touring again this year with Levy as Béla Fleck and
the Original Flecktones; Coffin will join the tour later, and the Flecktones plan
a stop at Bonnaroo 2011 in Manchester, Tenn., on Friday, June 10, as well.

In the midst of tour preparations and countless side projects, Fleck also is working
on his first standalone banjo concerto, commissioned by the Nashville Symphony, which
is set for a September premiere.

Fleck's most recent Grammy came as a result of his 2005 excursions to Mali, The Gambia,
Tanzania and Uganda to study the African origins of the banjo. He has been nominated
in more different categories than anyone in Grammy history—bluegrass, classical, contemporary
Christian, country, gospel, jazz, pop and spoken-word.

MTSU's Windham Lecture Series in Liberal Arts was established by William and Westy
Windham through the MTSU Foundation. Dr. William Windham was a member of the MTSU
faculty from 1955 to 1989 and served as chairman of the Department of History the
last 11 years. The late Westy Windham (1927-91) earned a master's degree in sociology
at MTSU and was the founder of the Great American Singalong.

For more information, please contact the College of Liberal Arts at 615-494-7628.

Nearly 10 students are already making use of the new Adaptive Recreation Room, the
latest addition to MTSU's Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center.

The room features three primary pieces of equipment—MOTOmed, Easy Stand Glider and
Easy Stand—that will give students with disabilities more access to the Rec Center's
facilities.

To show off the room, Campus Rec, Disabled Student Services and Student Affairs are
planning an open house. It will be held Thursday, March 3, starting at 2 p.m.

"I was excited when I heard about this," said Wes Becker, a senior computer-science
major from Mt. Juliet who uses a wheelchair. "There's not a lot of equipment like
this—hand cycle and cardio—that we can use."

Disabled Student Services Director John Harris, Campus Rec Director Charlie Gregory
and others began discussions on the topic after a student, Jennifer Austin of Cowan,
Tenn., told them how recreational equipment is a part of the Tennessee Rehabilitation
Center in Smyrna.

"It's something that's been on my mind a year or two," Harris said, adding that his
office 'strongly supports this program."

Harris and Gregory agreed on the project and received the administration's support.
The room opened Jan. 13, the first day of spring-semester classes.

Caleb Paschall, a former employee of Disabled Student Services, came on board to
"develop the program, recruit volunteers and assist students with the equipment,"
said Jenny Crouch, Campus Rec's marketing and adaptive recreation/exercise coordinator.

The MOTOmed promotes pedaling and using the arms and legs, Paschall said. The Easy
Stand Glider helps in blood circulation, using the participant's arm and leg muscles
and relieving pressure sores from sitting and reclining. The Easy Stand also "relieves
pressure sores and is great for bone density," he added.

Gregory said the three pieces of equipment, which were purchased in December, cost
more than $17,000.

Crouch added that the Rec Center is trying to "encourage people with any disability
to come and be physically more active."

"I'm really proud the University stepped up and is doing this," Harris said. "Therapy
actually is good for them. " It will allow them to navigate this big campus better.
"

GETTING A WORKOUT—MTSU senior Wes Becker, a computer-science major who uses a wheelchair,
works out on the MOTOmed in the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center's new
Adaptive Recreation Room as Caleb Paschall watches. Paschall, a former employee of
MTSU's Disabled Student Services, developed the new program for Campus Recreation
and now helps students use the equipment.

GETTING CREATIVE—McCall Decker, 11, a student at T.W. Hunter Middle School in Hendersonville,
Tenn., shows Dr. Lana Seivers, dean of MTSU's College of Education, her "Mobile Makeover
Center" project at MTSU's 19th annual Invention Convention, held Feb. 17 at Murphy
Center. The event, sponsored by State Farm Insurance, drew more than 300 participants
from schools across middle Tennessee to compete in two categories: "Games" and "Something
to Make Life Easier."

There's still time to nominate an MTSU faculty member for the 2010-11 Outstanding
Teacher Award: the deadline for submissions is Monday, March 7.

The MTSU Foundation has funded the Outstanding Teacher Awards for the past 45 years,
presenting five awards annually with an accompanying prize of $3,000 each.

Alumni, faculty and students make nominations each year, and students and tenured
faculty then base the final selections upon evaluations.

Guidelines, along with student, alumni and faculty nomination forms, for the Outstanding
Teacher Award are available online.

All nominations must be in the Office of the University Provost, Room 111 of the
Cope Administration Building, before close of business March 7. They may be e-mailed
directly to pthomas@mtsu.edu or printed and sent in hard-copy form via campus mail to CAB 111.

Applications are being accepted through Tuesday, March 15, for the 2011 Student Recognition
Awards.

The Division of Student Affairs will honor four undergraduate students for their
exemplary character and achievements in scholarship, leadership and service. All members
of the MTSU community are being encouraged to nominate students who have demonstrated
a commitment to excellence and who meet the award criteria.

The awards include the President's Award, the Provost's Award, the Robert C. LaLance
Jr. Achievement Award and the Community Service Award. Descriptions and information
about the application and selection process are available online at www.mtsu.edu/mtleader/awards_mtleader.shtml.

Nominating a student for one of these awards is easy: e-mail sjtravis@mtsu.edu and include the student's name, M number, contact information and the award to be
considered. Deadline for completed applications is 4:30 p.m. March 15.

The MTSU Films Committee will conduct its 11th Annual MTSU Student Film Festival
Monday through Friday, April 4-8, in the Keathley University Center Theater. Deadline
for submissions to the festival is Friday, March 25.

The festival will have nightly screenings at 7 p.m. that showcase MTSU's best up-and-coming
student filmmakers. The MTSU Student Film Festival has been running since 2000.

"We are glad to continue the tradition of upholding an event where students can put
their academic and extracurricular skills to use and showcase their talent," said
Tyler Adkins, chair of the MTSU Films Committee. "We look forward to the eleventh
year of the festival and hope it will be our best yet."

Submission packets are available now in the Office of Student Unions and Programming,
located in Room 308 of the KUC, or online at www.mtsu.edu/events.

The festival will accept entries only from projects in which a current student holds
a substantial role. Prizes, which will range from gift cards to a Nashville Film Festival
patron-level pass, are being donated by the Nashville Film Festival. The prizes are
subject to change; entrants will receive prior notification.

For more information about the film festival, contact Adkins at 615-898-2551 or mtsufilms@yahoo.com or visit www.mtsu.edu/events.

Get to know your MTSU colleagues and enjoy the beauty of Tennessee's wilderness with
the help of Campus Recreation's Outdoor Pursuits staff!

A faculty/staff backpacking trip is planned to the Stone Door in South Cumberland
State Park, located near Monteagle, Tenn., on Saturday and Sunday, March 26 and 27.
Cost is $25 per employee and $30 each for spouses and includes transportation, backpacking
equipment, trip coordinators, permits and camping fees.

Food is not provided, but organizers will offer a sample menu, a list of appropriate
food and clothing choices and extra-equipment suggestions at a pre-trip meeting on
Wednesday, March 23, at 5:30 p.m.

This trip is geared to beginners and to those who want a relaxing hike, organizers
said.

The group will leave MTSU's Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center at 8 a.m.
March 26, stopping en route for breakfast. Plans are to backpack most of the day and
then set camp. After breakfast on Sunday, the group will finish backpacking and head
back to Murfreesboro in the early evening with plans to stop for dinner on the return
trip.

The Stone Door Trail is a part of the Savage Gulf area in South Cumberland State
Park, one of Tennessee's newest state parks. Almost all of the park lies atop the
Cumberland Plateau and, unlike most state parks, is made up of 10 different areas
stretching across four counties. The area contains many beautiful vistas, rugged rock
formations, wildlife and waterfalls.

For more information about this faculty/staff backpacking trip, contact Campus Rec
Outdoor Pursuits at 615-898-2104.

Dr. Gary Namie, nationally recognized expert on bullying, will speak at Middle Tennessee
State University on Thursday, March 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the State Farm Room of
the Business and Aerospace Building.

The title of his presentation is "Take a Stand: Stop Bullying." The event, sponsored
by the Distinguished Speaker Series and the Jennings A. Jones College of Business,
will be free and open to the public.

Namie directs a national network of citizen lobbyists, which is working to pass into
law the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill. He taught the first U.S. university
course on workplace bullying and was an expert witness in the nation's first "bullying
trial" in Indiana.

Namie and his wife, Dr. Ruth Namie, produce information on eight public websites
devoted to education about bullying for citizens, lawmakers, unions and employers.
Their work has been featured on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and in newspapers
across the country.

To ease traffic congestion caused by construction in the area, visitors attending
the event may park in the large parking lot east of Rutherford Boulevard and ride
the Raider Xpress shuttle to the Business and Aerospace Building.

For more information, contact Dr. Jackie Gilbert in the Jones College of Business
at 615-898-5418. You also may check out Gilbert's blog on bullying at www.organizedforefficiency.com.

A second shipment of books is on its way to Chittagong University in Bangladesh through
the efforts of MTSU's Yunus Program and Dr. Richard Hannah, professor of economics
and finance.

In December, Hannah spent two weeks in Bangladesh talking to students at CU, one
of MTSU's international partners, and making contact with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, former
MTSU professor and founder of the Grameen Bank in the capital city of Dhaka.

Yunus and the bank won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their success with microlending,
the awarding of low-interest loans to poverty-stricken entrepreneurs. Yunus was an
assistant professor at MTSU from 1969 to 1972.

Hannah says the first shipment, some 400 pounds of books, was collected with help
from the Honors Student Association and sent to CU last spring.

"Here, after a student is done with a course or faculty members aren't using the
books, they're of very low value," he says. "We want to transfer them to an area where
they're valued extremely highly."

In addition, Hannah met with the executive staff at Grameen to discuss expanding
internships at the bank. The first MTSU student to intern with Grameen, Steve Sibley,
is in his second year of a doctoral program at Purdue University. Hannah says that
future students, like Sibley, have to be willing to live among the poor and experience
a quality of life that is probably unlike anything they have ever known.

"These have to be very resilient students who really want to get involved in world
poverty studies—and I mean 'boots on the ground,'" Hannah says.

In the meantime, Hannah will join Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, manager of MTSU's Yunus Program,
professor emeritus of economics and finance and adviser to the president and the provost
on Asian affairs, to look for grant money to sustain the internship drive and bring
another CU student to Murfreesboro.

The first student, Md. Alauddin Majumber, currently is working on his second master's
degree at MTSU. Majumber is an assistant professor in CU's Department of Economics,
and his graduate assistantship is funded with a grant from the MTSU Foundation and
a Bangladeshi government subsidy.

Hannah says the two weeks he spent in Bangladesh has prompted him to rethink how
he teaches from a cultural context, not just an economic context.

"If we truly want to internationalize, it requires something more than theorizing,"
Hannah says. "You have to go. You have to encourage students to go. You have to bring
it back. You have to share."

SHARING INFORMATION—Dr. Richard Hannah, second from right, poses for a photo with
staff members at a medical facility in rural Bangladesh that's been set up as a social
business. During a two-week trip to the nation last semester, Hannah met with the
executive staff at Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel Prize winner and former MTSU professor
Muhammad Yunus, to arrange more MTSU student internships.

SPECIAL GUESTS—MTSU has seen a plethora of special guests in recent weeks. One was
civil-rights attorney Fred Gray, shown at left speaking at MTSU's Wright Music Building
Feb. 14 during a special appearance for Black History Month. Gray served as counsel
to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and was also the lead attorney in the
lawsuit filed on behalf of the survivors of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. The
suit, filed in 1973 against the federal government, was settled out of court for $10
million and helped reform U.S. human-experimentation regulations. Gray was a guest
of the MTSU Intercultural and Diversity Affairs Center, the Center for Student Involvement
and Leadership and MTSU Black History Month.

Another guest lecturer was Stephen Moore, senior economic writer for The Wall Street Journal, shown at right as he chats with MTSU student Mousa Abuqayas before Moore's Feb.
10 lecture. A guest of the Wright Travel Chair in Entrepreneurship in the Jennings
A. Jones College of Business at MTSU, Moore said that he believes the U.S. government
is doing everything to suppress economic growth and prosperity. He told the audience,
however, that "All of you will see the most amazing future. The changes that will
happen over the next five, 10 or 50 years are going to be unthinkable." Moore's appearance
was sponsored by the College of Business, the Wright Travel Chair and the Young America's
Foundation.

In an era that rewards homogeneity and punishes critical-thinking skills, Christopher
Hamrick not only shatters the mold, he takes piercing aim at it in a rambunctious
life held together by one strong thread: the search for truth.

The 32-year-old photography major from Hermitage, Tenn., served a four-year stint
in the U.S. Marines from 1996 to 2000. After Sept. 11, 2001, he signed up for another
four years of service—this time in the U.S. Air Force.

Between the military periods, Hamrick got married. After a tumultuous five-year relationship
and a painful divorce and custody battle, he remains a devoted dad to his 8-year-old
daughter and 6-year-old twin boys. The experience left him with an unshakable feeling
that men often are shortchanged in custody issues.

"It has been difficult to fight someone you actually care for," Hamrick says. He
admits that it's also been difficult to handle the breakup of his family while juggling
classes, but he finds occasional respite and relief at the June Anderson Center for
Women and Nontraditional Students.

"I guess I just mostly needed a place between classes to rest," Hamrick says. "There
were other people my age who had been through similar experiences, whether military,
single parent or whatever."

The June Anderson Center merged last year with Off-Campus Student Services. Its expanded
mission is enabling the center to embrace students like Hamrick and gives them a place
where they feel they belong.

"The center is a place where all kinds of students can feel welcome and secure,"
says Director Terri Johnson. "Christopher is an amazing nontraditional student, and
there are many more who we serve every day."

Hamrick initially chose engineering technology as his major since he had performed
so much electronic-engineering work in both military and civilian life. His experimentation
with infrared photography during his custody dispute, however, combined with a wealth
of amateur photo experience, led to a change of major—and a change of perspective.

"As I was taking these photographs, I realized how surreal and beautiful they were
and very different from what anybody else was doing," Hamrick says. "I noticed that
I had a very good eye for framing the shot and then getting a picture."

He says he has yet to decide whether photography is to become his latest occupational
adventure. But he insists that whatever he does must be unique, whether climbing Mount
Whitney in California or getting an incomparable photo that can only be achieved through
great risk.

"I've already faced that whole dying aspect, and it's one of those inevitable things,"
Hamrick says. "Being a veteran, I don't have to worry about people fighting over it.
They can just plant me and be done with it. But, up until that point, it's what you
do in the world that people remember."

Joe Whitefield (Facilities Services) has received the Rex Dillow Award from the Association of Physical
Plant Administrators for his article, "Deferred Capital Renewal as a Spoiler for Campus
Programs," which was published in the January/ February 2010 edition of Facilities Manager, the APPA's magazine. The award is for the best article published in the magazine
during the previous year.

Passages

Dr. Ann Campbell (elementary and special education), 63, passed away Feb. 19. Dr. Campbell was preceded
in death by her parents, Mary Ellen and Porter Campbell of Lenoir City, Tenn. She
is survived by her daughter, Stephanie Campbell of Murfreesboro; her brother, Jim
Campbell, and his wife, Robin, of Greenback, Tenn.; her aunt, Mary Annie Campbell
of Lenoir City; friends Twanna Cantrell, Karen Carnes, Gayle Gillespie, Marsha and
John Harrison, Mildred Klinner, Susan and Ronnie Simpson, Nancy and Rick Thornton,
Ruthie Threat, Susan and Dr. Phil Waldrop and Karen and Mike Warren, all of Murfreesboro;
Drs. Nancy and Mike Hinds of Martin, Tenn.; Gail McLain of Columbia, S.C.; and a host
of cherished colleagues, friends and neighbors. Dr. Campbell was a graduate of the
University of Tennessee-Knoxville and earned her master's and doctoral degrees at
the University of Memphis. She began her career at Arkansas State University and taught
at Murray State University before arriving at MTSU in 1981 to serve as a professor
of special education. Dr. Campbell was an advocate of early intervention all her professional
life; in 1983 she established and became the founding director of Project Help at
MTSU, now known as the Dr. Ann Campbell Early Learning Center. This early-intervention
program became a model for other programs across the state. Memorials in Dr. Campbell's
honor may be made to the First United Methodist Church Building Fund, 265 W. Thompson
Lane, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37129; the MTSU Wesley Foundation, 216 College Heights
St., Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37130; or Project Help—the Dr. Ann Campbell Early Learning
Center, 206 N. Baird Lane, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37130.

Publications

Dr. Mark Anshel (health and human performance) has published a chapter, "The Disconnected Values
Model: A Brief Intervention for Improving Healthy Habits and Coping With Stress in
Law Enforcement," in the Handbook of Police Psychology (2011, pp. 525-540), edited by Jack Kitaeff (Taylor & Francis Publishers).

Workshops

Dr. Debra Rose Wilson and Professor Janice Harris (nursing) led the School of Nursing's daylong guided-imagery workshop on Feb. 15
for 44 Austin Peay State University nursing students, 59 graduating senior MTSU nursing
majors and several registered nurses from the area.

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